There’s a lot you can do to minimise the risk of getting dementia. Many factors are lifestyle choices and if you’ve given yourself a scare perhaps it’s an opportunity to get on track to good health. Ensure you have enough antioxidants in your diet to counteract the damage done by free radicals caused by pollution, stress, exercise, etc. If you don’t eat 9 or more portions of fruit and veg (mostly the latter) take a supplement like Juice Plus+ that provides the phytonutrients from 26 fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Clinically proven to help keep you healthy.

Steps to Prevent Breast Cancer1. Maintain a healthy body weight (BMI less than 25) throughout your life. Weight gain in midlife, independent of BMI, has been shown to significantly increase breast cancer risk. Additionally, and elevated BMI has been conclusively shown to increase the risk of postmenopausal breast cancer.

2. Minimize or avoid alcohol. Alcohol use is the most well established dietary risk factor for breast cancer. The Harvard Nurses’ Health study, along with several others, has shown consuming more than one alcoholic beverage a day can increase breast cancer risk by as much as 20-25 per cent.

3. Consume as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Eat seven or more servings daily. The superstars for breast cancer protection include all cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower); dark leafy greens (collards, kale, spinach); carrots and tomatoes. The superstar fruits include citrus, berries and cherries. Note: it is best to eat cruciferous vegetables raw or lightly cooked, as some of the phytochemicals believed to offer protection against breast cancer are destroyed by heat.

4. Exercise regularly the rest of your life. Many studies have shown that regular exercise provides powerful protection against breast cancer. Aim for 30 minutes or more of moderate aerobic activity (brisk walking) five or more days a week. Consistency and duration, not intensity, are key!

8. Minimize exposure to pharmacologic estrogens and xeno-estrogens. Do not take prescription estrogens unless medically indicated. Lifetime exposure to estrogen plays a fundamental role in the development of breast cancer. Also avoid estrogen -like compounds found in environmental pollutants, such as pesticides and industrial chemicals. Buy organic produce if you can afford it; otherwise, thoroughly wash all non-organic produce. Minimize exposure to residual hormones found in non-organic dairy products, meat and poultry.

My early years were lived before the widespread use of processed food. My grandparents were farmers and I had a healthy diet albeit rather an unexciting one. I’ve therefore always known that “you have to eat your greens”, so first developed an interest in infant nutrition as a breastfeeding counsellor, and from that expanding into general counselling was a natural progression.

Our physical health and emotions are intimately linked; we feel emotions because the brain produces chemicals that are released into the bloodstream. E.g; when we are stressed Cortisol is released.

We are also exposed to free radicals on a daily basis – unstable molecules that can alter or damage the cells in our bodies. We simply can’t escape them because not only do our bodies produce them as part of the normal metabolism of oxygen cells (or oxidation)during exercise, but we are also exposed to them through pollution, alcohol, sunlight, stress, and even unhealthy fried or processed foods.

Free radicals (or pro-oxidant molecules) are unstable because they are missing an electron. In order to achieve stability, they steal electrons from normal molecules, and in the process damage those cells and their DNA. This process creates new free radicals that go on the prowl for electrons to strip away from other normal, stable molecules. It’s a chain reaction that, as you can imagine, damages countless cells along the way.

Usually that’s not a problem; the cells just die. But free radical damage has been blamed for various diseases and conditions associated with ageing, including wrinkles and age spots, macular degeneration, cataracts, cancer, diabetes, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

Enter antioxidants — the body’s best defence against free radicals. Antioxidants neutralize free radicals, preventing them from doing more damage. They do this by donating electrons, stabilizing them and cutting off the chain reaction of cell destruction before it gets out of control. Your body produces some antioxidants on its own, and you also get an abundance by eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

Without adequate nutrition as part of a healthy body it is difficult to feel good about oneself and to actually produce the chemical combinations that enable us to have emotions: endorphins; serotonin; etc. We live in a busy age and most people struggle to manage the minimum requirement of 5 different fruit & vegetables a day, let alone the recommended 9 – 13. That’s why I recommend and now sell Juice Plus+ whole-food supplements. They provide a continual bridge between what we should eat and what we actually do eat. The daily support of the Premium range provides the phytonutrients from 2.5 kgs of 26 fruits, vegetables & berries. The water, salts, sugar & most of the fibre have been removed in a Swiss process that is second-to-none for quality and effectiveness. (scroll to bottom of page and choose “science/bioavailablility).

Like counselling, it often takes hindsight to see the full range of benefits. I often say to new clients that we won’t really know what counselling is until during or after our work together. Similarly, until we’ve been ill, or not been ill, we can’t know or imagine what it would have been like had our immune system not functioned as it did. Is £1.92 a day expensive? If it enables you to remain healthy and feel in tip-top condition, or avoid 1 or 5 or 10 years in a nursing home in your old age, does it become a really impressive investment? And that’s just the money side of things – good health is actually priceless.

Many articles describe the ‘perils’ of Juicing and how this can result in a high sugar intake, albeit with the juice also containing nutrients and vitamins. This article explains how the Juice Plus+ process is superior and the video “How Juice Plus is Made” – # 21 at bitly/moodandfoodyoutube shows more details.

Juice Plus+ capsules contain the phytonutrients of 2.5 kg of fruits, vegetables & berries – with almost all the sugars, fibre & water removed. Each daily supply has only 4g of sugar remaining.